


Tracking Down

by Tyrelingkitten



Category: One Piece
Genre: Fluff, Gen, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-31
Updated: 2015-10-31
Packaged: 2018-04-29 06:37:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 998
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5118815
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tyrelingkitten/pseuds/Tyrelingkitten
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A late birthday fic for Koala. </p><p>Koala and empty hallways.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tracking Down

**Author's Note:**

> Happy belated birthday, KOALA!

 

The numbers swirled in front of her eyes, the amount too huge to take in. She blinked her eyes, hoping the total amount was just a figment of her imagination born from her tired eyes. But when the amount remained as huge as it did earlier, way beyond the budget, Koala was convinced!

She slammed down the papers she was reading over, shoulders shaking and pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration.

“Not again.” Koala grumbled, taking off her glasses. “Wait till I get my hands on you, Sabo.” She growled the name and then shot a glare to her whoever was assisting her shift but stopped herself from blowing up when she realized who was on duty beside her. 

Seated on the other side of the desk was Nico Robin, their esteemed guest and a member of the Strawhat Pirates. Robin looked up from the records she was casually leafing in and smiled. “Something wrong, Koala?”  

“W-well, no, it’s okay, just–not, the numbers aren’t adding up.” Koala stammered, puffing her cheeks in an attempt to resist her annoyance. “And it’s Sabo.  _Again._ “ 

Robin had that all-knowing look on her face again. It’s the look she was always wearing ever since she moved into Baltigo. Koala was no expert on facial expression much but she was definitely one when it came to smiles. Robin’s smiles were neither happy nor sad. Mostly neutral in between and Koala had the feeling that it might have something to do with her missing her crew. 

“Maybe you need some rest, Koala.” Robin placed the records on the desk and stood up to herd Koala out of her chair.

“No, no, I’m fine.” Koala protested, flailing her arms around. 

“But you have been pouring through the calculations for a while now.” Robin said thoughtfully. “Tell you what, let’s go to the mess hall and have some dinner before we continue with this.”

“But I can’t! I’ve so much to do with these reports!” Koala pointed at the stack of financial reports. 

“Getting something to eat won’t hurt.” Robin was already pushing Koala out of the room and down the corridors leading to the dinner hall. “Besides, I’m feeling famished myself.”

 _That_ stopped Koala from resisting and reluctantly agreed to eat dinner with Robin. Can’t go on leaving Robin to starve here in Head Quarters. What would Dragon think of Koala?

“Okay, Robin. I’ll just eat some sandwiches or something.” 

“Oh no, Koala, we can’t have that, can we? I heard the chef has some specials planned tonight.” 

“Specials? Since when?”

“Who knows.” Robin smiled cryptically. “Maybe they wanted to change the menu.” 

Koala rubbed her forehead as she tried to recall discussions about food rationing and food monitoring and wondered if she had missed the news about food changes. She only missed a few of those meetings when she was stationed outside Baltigo so maybe the cooks had discussed this with Dragon outside her knowledge. 

 

As the sounds of their boots echoing the hallways, Koala realized they hadn’t passed anyone along the way. Not even the Graveyard Shift.

The sense of paranoia didn’t creep up until they found mess hall door up ahead.

Koala quickened her steps towards the door and held up a hand to stop Robin from advancing first. 

“Koala?” 

“Shhh!”

Koala checked the walls, the ceilings and the door hinges, she looked back behind her and sniffed the air. Ancient wood, old paint, and something spicy lingered in the air. 

Nothing seemed out of the ordinary except the sense of abandonment. But the place was too quiet. Usually there was always someone coming down the hallway. 

Baltigo was designed to echo any oncoming footsteps. To have the base this silent? Something was up.  

Koala carefully pushed open the large door, it creaked-

**“SURPRISE!”**

Something popped in front of Koala’s face. She recoiled in surprise and blinked as confetti poured down from the ceiling. 

“Happy birthday, Koala!” 

Koala blinked at the decorated mess hall, the streamers lining the ceiling and pillars, the huge cake on a cart rolled over to meet her, and all her comrades singing the happy birthday song in high-pitched and off key chorus.

“When- ” Koala swallowed her words as she clutched her hands into fists to keep them from shaking. 

Sabo leaned out from behind the cake he rolled over, the usual playful grin on his face. 

“Surprise~.” he sing-songed and gave his own rendition of happy birthday. “So what do you think?”

 

Koala inhaled sharply as she looked at Sabo and then at her huge cake which had an uneven scrawl across the frosting, depicting her twentieth year. Although the cake looked a bit crooked, way different from the ones in glamorous food magazines, the cake looked delicious with the decorations forming her name around the chocolate 20. 

“How did you manage to get all this done without me knowing?” 

“Well. Of course, it wasn’t easy.” Sabo winked. “But I had some help.” He nodded towards Robin. “Thank you, Nico Robin.”

Robin chuckled. “As long as I get cake.”

“So, all the reports,” Koala said slowly, “All those finance reports were… fake?”

“Not entirely.” Sabo laughed. He scratched the back of his head nervously. “We just needed you away from the halls. So finance shift it is!” 

Koala pressed her hands over her mouth and resisted herself- 

-but she couldn’t stop herself and threw her arms around Robin, letting out a girlish scream.

“THANK YOU, ROBIN. THANK YOU EVERYONE! THANK YOU FOR THE CAKE!”

“Cut the cake now, Koala-chan.” Terry called out.

“We’re hungry right now! Let’s get on with the party dishes!” Hack waved to the waiting shift.

“Get the booze flowing!” Bunny Joe shouted.

“… Where’s my hug?” Sabo asked forlornly between the cheers and rumblings for food.

 

Koala gave him a disgusted face as she pressed herself closer to Robin but then her scowl softened into a smile as she opened her arms for him. “Come here, you big oaf.”

**The end**

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!
> 
> I JUST WANT TO WRITE A CUTE KOALA FIC!


End file.
